Tuesday, March 28, 2017

A Silver Medallion - James R. Callan, Author



Callan's Oatmeal Cookies

Start with
            ¾ cup of butter
            ½ cup granulated sugar
            1 cup brown sugar
            1 teaspoon of baking powder
            ¼ teaspoon baking soda
            1 teaspoon cinnamon
            ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and ground cloves and beat until mixed and smooth.
            2 eggs
            1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla
Now, mix in the eggs and vanilla until well mixed and smooth.
Next, if you have a good mixer, use it.  Otherwise mix by hand.
            1 ¾ cups of all purpose flour
            2 cups of rolled oats
After all of the above is well mixed in, then add and mix only enough to distribute the nuts and cranberries.
            1 cup pecans or walnuts
            1 cup of dried cranberries or Craisins
Use a teaspoon to put small mounds of dough on a cookie sheet and bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Some like the cookies softer and some like them crisper.  You decide, or make a pan of each.


This will make about 5 dozen cookies, depending on the size of the cookie you bake.  If you have a  large enough mixer, you can double this recipe, cook half of it and put the remaining batter in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator.  Then, you can bake the rest tomorrow, yielding hot, fresh cookies on both days, with only one mixing.  Happy eating.

A Silver Medallion - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of:  Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

Crystal's grandmother stood under a maple tree.  Eula Moore was staring at the small storage shed about twenty feet behind her house.  She aimed a double-barreled shotgun at the door of the building.  "Don't make no sudden moves.  I got a nervous trigger finger.  I might just blow your head off."  Nothing moved.  "Now, very slowly, come on out in the open, and keep them hands over your head where I can see 'em."  Crystal crept up beside her grandmother, "What's in there, Nana?" she whispered.  A few moments passed.  Then a single finger came into view. Gradually, it turned into a whole hand, waving in a small arc.  "Por favor, no dispare."  The tiny brown hand fluttered again.  The voice quavered slightly, "Please.  No shoot.  No shoot."

Crystal Moore was paying her grandmother Eula a visit at her home "The Park."  Finding her Nana standing in a defensive stance with a shotgun pointed at one of the buildings wasn't what she had expected to walk into.  She also wasn't expecting the troubles that followed the discovery of a young Mexican woman hiding inside that building.

Rosa was her name.  She had been smuggled across the border to serve as what Crystal called a 'slave' to one of Dallas' most prominent men.  And to keep her under his control she is told that her husband will be killed if she talks to anyone or tries to run.

In Crystal's attempt to help Rosa as well as others in this same situation, she finds herself in the heart of Mexico where family members of those enslaved are being held.  This task is one that could cost her her own life as well as the lives of those close to her.

If you want a twisting road ride, you'll find it in A Silver Medallion.  I thought the first book in this series 'A Ton of Gold' was good.  This second book in the Crystal Moore Suspense Series has taken it a step further.  My word to Author James R. Callan is "hurry up and give me book 3!"

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